ALGERIA - MARCEL CERDAN (1948)
Born
in SidiBel-Abbes, Algeria where he first learnt to box Cerdan would eventually
become a French national. Cerdan beat
the terrific body puncher Tony Zale via a 12th round KO to take the
world middleweight title in New Jersey in 1948.
He lost his crown to Jake LaMotta the following year and sadly would
never have the chance to regain it. He
died in a plane crash whilst in training for the return bout en route to visit
the French singer Edith Piaf.
ANTIGUA - MAURICE HOPE (1979)
Maurice
Hope grew up in London, England but was nonetheless born in Antigua and held
the light middleweight title for 2 years from 1979 to 1981.
ARGENTINA - PASCAL PEREZ (1954)
London
1948 flyweight gold medallist had battled to a non-title 10 round draw against
Japan’s world champion Yoshio Shirai in his native Buenos Aires before
travelling to Tokyo to beat Shirai after 15 rounds on points.
ARMENIA - VIC DARCHINYAN (2004)
Aswell
as being the first Armenian to win a world title, in 2005 he became the first
flyweight in 40 years to combine two titles then in 2008 became the first ever
undisputed super-flyweight champion.
AUSTRALIA - YOUNG GRIFFO (1890)
Albert
Giffiths (as he was to his parents) beat Torpedo Billy Murphy into submission
to claim the world featherweight title in the 15th round of their 1890
fight. After defending it four times he
became the first world champion to relinquish their title, not being able to
make the weight to defend his crown.
AUSTRIA - JACK ROOT (1903)
Jack
Root was not only the first Czech born Austrian world champion but also the
first light heavyweight title holder of any nationality when he beat George
Gardener on July 4th 1903.
Root would also go on to challenge Marvin Hart for the vacant
heavyweight title following Jim Jeffries retirement in 1905.
BAHAMAS - ELISHA OBED (1975)
The
talented Obed held the light middleweight crown for seven months before
relinquishing it to embark on a less than impressive middleweight career.
BARBADOS - JOE WALCOTT (1901)
After
an unsuccessful attempt at George ‘Kid’ Lavigne’s lightweight title and one
more after moving up to welterweight, the ‘Original’ Joe Walcott (whom Jersey
Joe took his name from) knocked James ‘Rube’ Ferns out in the 6th
round of their 1901 welterweight title bout.
The
White Wolf claimed the WBO heavyweight strap off Lamon Brewster in 2006 before
being knocked out by Shannon Briggs later that same year.
Light
heavyweight Roth held the original IBU world title aswell as the European title
for 2 years between 1936 and 1938, the durable Belgian getting knocked out just
twice in 137 fights.
Over
a period of 15 years Phillips held the light middleweight title (in one form or
another) on three separate occasions, latterly after a controversial split
decision over Cory Spinks in 2008.
Ranked
in 2006 by the International Boxing Research Organisation as the greatest
bantamweight of all time, Jofre lost just twice in his nineteen year career -
an impressive feat by anyone’s standard.
The two weight champ’s first title was the vacant NBA bantamweight strap
following the retirement of Jose Becerra in 1960.
A
draw with Markus Beyer and a loss to Joe Calzaghe, both in 2006 and a loss to
Andre Ward saw the tough Cameroon-born Australian based super middleweight walk
away from his first three world title fights empty handed. Then in June 2013 Bika claimed a close
majority decision win over Marco Antonio Periban to claim the WBC 168lb belt.
In
May 1889 George LaBlanche took on the ‘Nonpareil’ Jack Dempsey for the
middleweight championship of the world. Had he not weighed in at 161lb or
floored Dempsey with an illegal pivot blow he may very well have been the first
Canadian world champion.
As it happens, the following
year George Dixon won the world bantamweight championship knocking out Nunc Wallace
and so not only becoming the first Canadian world champion but the first black
world champion, which given the racial barriers of the time was an impressive
achievement.
Zhong
was an experienced campaigner at flyweight and light flyweight including a shot
at the WBC flyweight title in 2009 before dropping down to minimum weight to
beat Mexican Javier Martinez Resendiz in 2012.
Reyes
moved from having just three amateur bouts (winning two and losing one) to
becoming a Columbian national hero holding the world light welterweight title
on two occasions between 1972 and 1980.
After
a hundred fight undefeated streak as an amateur, The Cuban Bon Bon turned
professional in 1927 and notched up an impressive string of wins. Had he been born a generation later he very
well may not have been allowed to turn professional due to the communist
regime. As it happens, in 1931 The Kid
knocked out the light welterweight title Benny Bass and to this day remains a
legend.
French
born Wamba beat Massimiliano Duran for the 190lb WBC belt in 1991 but was
stripped four years later.
Born
Oscar Mattheus Nielson in Copenhagen in 1882, The Durable Dane as he was known
was one of the early greats in the lightweight division. Nelson beat Jimmy Britt at his second attempt
at the world strap in 1905 via an 18th round knockout before losing
to Joe Gans the following year in their famous 42 round epic.
Winning
just seven of his first fourteen fights, Cruz didn’t exactly start his career
with the form of a typical future world champion. Nonetheless in 1968 in front of his home fans
Cruz beat Carlos Ortiz on points. He
would lose it less than a year later. He
would die in a plane crash less than two years later.
Hernandez
was ahead on all three scorecards against Steve Forbes in his 2003 IBF super
featherweight bout when an accidental head butt gave him the title via
technical decision. He held it until
Erik Morales beat him by unanimous decision the next year.
Ruby
Robert won the first of his three world title in 1891 when he beat Jack Dempsey
for the middleweight title becoming the first English world champion of the
gloved era. He went on to take the
heavyweight crown in 1897 before dropping to light heavyweight and becoming the
first three weight world champion in 1901.
While
Charles Ledoux was recognised as a division leader by the National Sporting
Club in 1913, it wasn’t until The Orchid Man Georges Carpentier won the light
heavyweight title from Battling Levinsky in 1920 that France had a universally
accepted champion.
German
born Frank Mantell had an extremely good claim to be a world champion as early
as 1907 but was never universally accepted.
In 1930 Max Schmeling claimed the heavyweight title left vacant
following the retirement of Gene Tunney, becoming the first heavyweight
champion to be crowned due to a foul after Jack Sharkey caught him with a low
blow.
Kotey
(or Kotei) beat the great featherweight Ruben Olivares by split decision in
1975 and held the title for a year before losing it to Danny Lopez.
The
solid, if not stylish, Greek beat Melio Bettina for the vacant world light
heavyweight title in January 1941 and lost it five months later to Gus
Lesnevich who would do a better job of keeping hold of it.
Delé
turned pro in 1986, and captured the Vacant WBA Light Middleweight Title in
1991 with a TKO over Carlos Elliott. He
defended the belt once before losing it to Vinny Pazienza later that year.
The Hackney Rock moved to
London as a child to become a British citizen but was actually born in
Georgetown, Guyana. Andries won the WBC
light heavyweight championship in 1986 against J.B. Williamson before defending
it once then losing it to the then
undefeated Tommy Hearns.
In
2007, Haitian-born Canadian Joachim Alcine overcame Travis Simms despite having
a point taken away, to win the WBA 154lb strap.
Marino had already had two
shots at a world title, one at flyweight against Rinty Monaghan and one up at
bantamweight versus the legendary Manuel Ortiz before finding it was third time
lucky back at flyweight when he beat London’s Terry Allen on a close 15 round
points win.
The
former amateur world champion and Olympic champion held the WBO featherweight
title for the first half of 2001 before a shock loss to Julio Pablo Chacon.
Pical
held the IBF super flyweight title on three separate occasions between 1985 and
1989.
The
Iranian-born French citizen, aptly nicknamed The Little Tyson, was super
bantamweight champ for almost three years until 2006.
The
Irish-born Dempsey was the first ever champion to be crowned under the
Queensbury code when he beat George Fulljames in 1884.
The
Belarusian-born Israeli (who happens to be based in the United States, just to
confuse matters) beat Daniel Santos for the WBA light middleweight title in
2009 but lost it when he was knocked out by Miguel Cotto in his first defence.
Born
in Platania, Italy, in 1890 Conley emigrated to Wisconsin as a child. He would
beat Monte Attell in the 42nd round (of a scheduled 45) of their
1910 bantamweight title bout.
Three
years after turning professional The Body Snatcher claimed the first of his
three world title by beating Sean Mannion for the vacant WBA light middleweight
title.
Shirai
beat Dado Marino for the world flyweight strap in 1952, successfully defending
it four times before losing it to Pascuel Perez in 1954.
Alexandrov
won the WBO super featherweight belt in January 1999 but lost it in the first
round of his first defence, being knocked completely unconscious by
AcelinoFreitas eight months later.
Kim
caused a massive upset when he claimed a split decision for the world light
middleweight title against Nino Benvenuti in 1966.
WBA
lightweight champion for five years, Nazarov could have been champion for a lot
longer had he not been affected by difficulties with his eyesight. His only professional defeat was at the hands
of Jean-Baptiste Mendy in 1998, after which he retired.
The
Martinique-born Frenchman was WBO super featherweight champion for six months
in 1992.
The
two weight world champion held the WBA super featherweight and lightweight
belts five years apart.
The
first of a great many Mexican world champions, Shaw was briefly light
welterweight champion in 1933 before being ousted by Tony Canzoneri.
Undefeated
in 26 fights (with 18 knockouts) Simon would have surely done more to cement
his legacy had his boxing career not been punctuated with several jail
terms. Nevertheless, he was able to
claim a majority decision against Winky Wright in 1998.
Nicknamed
‘Australian’ Billy Murphy you’d be forgiven for not realising one of the early
featherweight greats was actually born in Auckland. He set sail for San Francisco on the steamer
Zelandia in 1889 where, the following year, he knocked out Irishman Ike Weir to
become the first and so far only kiwi world champion.
Voted
by Ring Magazine as the 20th greatest puncher of all time and by the
Associated Press as the greatest light welterweight on the twentieth century,
The Explosive Thin Man became a national hero when in 1974 he dethroned Ruben
Olivares to become world featherweight champion. He would relinquish the belt to campaign at
higher weights, winning belts in three divisions and never losing a title in
the ring.
Bassey set his home up in Liverpool in 1952
and soon impressed people with his lethal punching power. Five years later he returned from Paris with
the world featherweight title having beaten home favourite CherifHamia.
John
Joseph Monaghan was nicknamed Rinty by his grandmother (apparently short for
Rin Tin Tin due to his love of dogs). He
claimed the flyweight belt from Jackie Peterson in 1947 and held it for two
years.
Having
moved around Europe at the beginning of his career, Sanstol relocated to New
York and then Canada in 1930. He beat
Archie Bell for the bantamweight strap in 1931 before losing it two years to a
truly brilliant bantamweight in Panama Al Brown. To this day Sanstol is the greatest boxer
Norway has ever produced.
The
freakishly tall bantamweight went over 160 bouts without ever being knocked out
(a record for a world champion that still stands and is unlikely to be
broken). Brown became the first ever
Hispanic world champion in 1929 when he beat Vidal Gregorio on points.
Despite
dying at the tragically young age of 23, Pancho Villa rose from poverty to be
one of the greatest flyweights of all time.
He became the first Asian boxing world champion in 1923 by beating an
aging Jimmy Wilde. Sadly he would die
before truly fulfilling his potential - not in the ring as so many of his
contemporaries did, but from an infection following a tooth extraction.
Between
the time he stopped Leeonzer Barber to win the WBO light heavyweight title and
2003 when he lost to Julio Cesar Gonzalez, the Pole strung together a
phenomenal 23 defences - a feat not seen since the likes of Joe Louis!
Not
only did Escobar mix it with the best bantamweights in what was a golden age
for the division, he was so popular back home in Puerto Rico that a stadium was
named in his honour. He first staked a
claim to the title in 1934 following the withdrawn recognition of Panama Al
Brown.
Loewe
is one of very few world champions that retired undefeated. He won the vacant WBO welterweight strap in
his penultimate bout before defending it in his last match before retiring on
medical grounds.
Kaplan
was born in Russia (modern day Ukraine) in 1901 but his family emigrated to the
United States when he was five and he became a nationalised American. When featherweight champion Johnny Dundee
retired in 1924 a tournament was set up to find his successor. He won the title but after a few wins had to
relinquish the belt to fight at lightweight as he was struggling to make the
weight.
Samoan-born
Kiwi Masoe won the WBA world middleweight title in 2004 but lost it in his
first defence in 2006.
Most
people think Benny Lynch is Scotland’s first world champion, when in fact it
was Johnny Hill who beat Lynch by a decade.
The Edinburgh flyweight won the vacant world title against Newsboy Brown
in 1928. He successfully defended it
twice but on the morning he was due to face Frankie Genaro, Hill died of
pneumonia.
The
World War I veteran resumed his successful fistic career in 1919 and his hard
work was rewarded when he was given a crack at Georges Carpentier’s light
heavyweight title in 1922. Siki claimed afterwards that he had agreed to take a
dive but when The Orchid Man got a bit too rough for his liking the eccentric
Senegalese binned the plan and set about Carpentier knocking him out in the
sixth round.
The
Serb beat Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for the IBF light heavyweight belt but lost it
in his first defence against Bobby Cycz.
The
Swedish Slovenian nicknamed The Lion was middleweight champion from 1999 to
2002.
After
an incredible amateur career consisting of 188 wins (160 via knockout) and just
2 losses, Toweel turned pro in 1949 and took just one year to claim the world
bantamweight title which he held for two years.
One
of those boxers who seem to have been lost to the history books, Sangchili
should probably be more highly regarded than he is. He beat some very good fighters in his day
including Panama Al Brown and Victor Perez.
The
brilliantly nicknamed Tuurific held the WBO super featherweight strap for three
years in the mid-nineties.
Another
of boxing’s colourful characters, Johansson’s hat-trick of bouts with Floyd
Patterson remain the only time the heavyweight championship has been contested
three times consecutively by the same two fighters.
Being
a lightweight around the turn of the twentieth century was a lot like being a
middleweight in the 1940’s or a heavyweight 1970’s, the division was at an
all-time high. After several
unsuccessful attempts at a world belt Erne beat George ‘Kid’ Lavigne in 1899
and defended it for two years against the likes of Joe Gans and Jack O’Brien.
Kingpetch
was world flyweight champion three times between 1960 and 1965.
Lightweight
Noel held a world title for three months before losing it on points in his
first defence.
The
Laventille Tiger was WBA light heavyweight champion for just four months in
1987, Virgil Hill beating him in his first defence.
One
of the youngest world champions in history, the tough Tunisian flyweight beat
Frankie Genaro in 1931 before losing it to Jackie Brown the following
year. Jewish Perez was transferred to
Auschwitz in World War II and was killed on the death march from Monowitz to
Gleiwitz in 1945.
Kalule
won the WBA light middleweight title Masashi Kudo in Japan and held onto it
until he took on Sugar Ray Leonard in 1981, giving him an unexpected run for
his money in the process.
Former
kick-boxing world champion and genuine doctor of sports science, the older
Klitschko became the first Ukranian-born world champion in 1999 and is
unfortunately the nearest thing the sweet science of today has to a world class
heavyweight.
The Boston born Irish-American won a 45 round disqualification versus Australian Tom Meadows for the world
welterweight belt. Sadly he was also the
first reigning world boxing champion to die, succumbing to tuberculosis at the
age of 25 in 1890.
King
Artur held on to his lightweight crown for an impressive seven years, eight
months. Not far shy of Benny Leonard’s
stint as champion.
Hernandez
held both WBA and WBC light welterweight titles for just over a year in the
mid-sixties.
Nobody
in history has boxed more rounds in world title fights (339), Griffith’s
rivalry with Benny Paret gave boxing one of its most enthralling trilogies,
albeit with a tragic end for Paret.
Griffith won his first world title from the Cuban in 1961.
Just
as most people think Benny Lynch was the first Scottish champion, most would
guess at Jimmy Wilde being the first Welsh champ. Actually, Percy Jones earned his stripes as a
fighter the same way in which The Mighty Atom did, in the local boxing booths
of the valleys. Then in 1914 he was
given a shot at Bill Ladbury’s world flyweight title which he duly took but it
was to be a short lived reign, losing the belt to Scot Tancy Lee later in the
year. Jones retired from boxing for good
in 1915.
Regarded
as one of the greatest sportsmen modern-day Croatia has ever produced, Parlov
held the light heavyweight title for part of 1978. He also took part in the first two world
cruiserweight title bouts against Marvin Camel, drawing the first and losing
the second.
Kalambay
unanimously beat Iran Barkley on points for the WBA middleweight title which he
lost to Mike McCallum four years later.
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